1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile communication system. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for determining a gateway mobile station capable of broadcasting with low power when a base station transmits a control message.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a Mobile Ad-hoc Network (MANET) refers to a technology in which mobile stations are connected in a multi-hop fashion when short range communication is possible between the mobile stations and data is transmitted to a destination mobile station after a proper path is found through a routing technique.
The MANET has heretofore been predominantly used as military equipment in a battle field having insufficient infra communication networks. However, MANET has recently evolved to a public safe network capable of operating even when an act of terrorism or a disaster occurs, or a smart grid type network for controlling electricity, water supply, and gas.
Meanwhile, a Beyond 4th Generation (B4G) technology is being researched to address the limitation in a transmission rate of 4th Generation (4G) communication such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) or Worldwide interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX). In the B4G technology, it is expected that related art cellular communication is combined with other types of communication.
FIG. 1 is a view illustrating a heterogeneous network including a cellular network and an ad-hoc network according to the related art.
A heterogeneous network generated when one Mobile Station (MS or terminal node) can simultaneously access the cellular network and the MANET may be configured as illustrated in FIG. 1.
When a cell cannot completely accommodate increasing mobile stations because the mobile stations are far away from a base station or an interference signal from a neighboring base station is strong, the base station does not directly perform transmission/reception with a target mobile station and performs the transmission through another mobile station in a multi-hop fashion. At this time, the base station can manage the mobile stations by a cluster in order to control the mobile stations in response to an increase in cell capacities, as illustrated in FIG. 1.
Another reason why such a structure is generated is that a case is created in which the cluster is formed between mobile stations, which are regionally close to each other, is increased as services related to a Social Networking Service (SNS), a game, a chat, a bulletin board, and the like according to a short range communication network. The structure may be applied to data transmission for the above services.
A cluster according to the related art can access the cellular network through a single or a plurality of gateways. A method of determining such a gateway mobile station is an issue which has been frequently researched in the MANET.
However, a method of determining the gateway according to the related art has a problem in that only a data transmission rate, a routing overhead, a power consumption rate, and a transmission delay of each mobile station are considered because the method is configured to optimize only requirements of the ad-hoc network.
Further, the method has a problem in that only data collected by the gateway from the mobile station is considered because it is assumed that the gateway is connected through an Internet wired network.
Therefore, a need exists for an apparatus and a method for determining a gateway mobile station, which is suitable for transmitting data, from mobile stations when a heterogeneous network is configured by the mobile stations which can simultaneously access a cellular network and a wireless ad-hoc network.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present invention.